Aspects of Steam

Aspects of Steam

The Norman Lockett Archive

by Mike Arlett and David Lockett

Having covered the Somerset & Dorset line and extensive parts of the GWR and, later, BR Western Region system in previous volumes, it is now the turn of the Southern Railway/Southern Region to be explored in the company of Norman Lockett and his plate camera. At a time when most railway photographers were converting over to celluloid film, Norman remained faithful to glass plates right to the end of steam, his only concession being to take colour slides as well from the late 1950s. Like many of his contemporaries, he believed the quality that could be achieved with glass plates could not be matched, let alone bettered by monochrome film. A glance through the pages of this and the previous volumes can only prove he was right.

We have returned to the original plates for the scanning process, as these provide far better and fuller images that can be had from the prints that Norman made from them. Once again, the vast majority of the pictures featured within have never previously been published. Norman covered only a part of the Southern, places easily reached from home by public transport or, later, in his great friend Ivo Peters’ Bentley. Nevertheless, there are still a huge number of highly photogenic locations covered here, from the ex-L&SWR line north from Plymouth, to Exeter, Weymouth, Bournemouth, Southampton and Salisbury, along with visits to various minor lines such as the Lyme Regis Branch, the Hayling Island Branch and the Isle of Wight. An interesting array of workings are featured, along with a representative selection of Southern motive power, from humble well tanks, radial tanks and ‘M7’s, through ‘T9’s and Southern ‘Moguls’, to ‘King Arthurs’ and the mighty Bulleid ‘Pacifics’.